Golf: Danny Gorman top of the board at Rockford Men’s City

ROCKFORD — It’s hard to fly under the radar in Rockford golf circles with the name of Beto, but David Beto managed it.

Until Saturday, when he shot 68 at Ingersoll to tie pretourney favorite Kevin Flack for third after the opening round of the Rockford Men’s Golf Classic.

Danny Gorman, who won the Class 2A state individual golf title last fall and led Boylan to the team title, leads with a 5-under-par 66. Defending champion Robert Dofflemyer is second at 67.

“I hit the ball well and putted well,” Gorman said. “I had a few lip-outs, which got me upset at the time, but I can’t do much complaining with a 66.”

While Gorman and Dofflemyer (Belvidere) were NIC-10 MVPs and high school stars, Beto was virtually invisible at Keith Country Day.

“Keith had a nine-hole tournament. That was it,” Beto said. “If you want to call it a golf team, that was it.”

Beto, 36, has rarely played in local tournaments, playing in the Atwood every year but not much else. Saturday was his first Men’s City round. It was also his lowest tournament round.

“I putted well, I didn’t three-putt,” he said. “I made a couple of clutch saves for par when I had to, and I only had one bogey.

“It was just nice and tidy. I never got into too much trouble and I was pretty conservative and attacked only when the opportunity presented itself.”

Dofflemyer, who started on No. 10, overcame a double-bogey on his second hole by playing his last 16 holes in 6 under.

“There was a long wait on 12, that helped me recover and hit the restart button,” Dofflemyer said. “I made a nice par on 12 and a nice par on 13, then I started making birdies. Once you start making birdies, it’s a lot more fun to play.”

Brandon Negri, Jeff Holmgaard, David Nagel and Matt LaMarca were at 2-under 69. LaMarca hadn’t played in a tourney this year until the Aldeen Cup last week.

“When the tournaments started, I wasn’t ready to play, and I knew that, so I gave myself a few weeks of practice,” LaMarca said. “I am ready to go now. I normally peak early in the season, so hopefully it’s moved forward now that I have started later.”

Johnny Canova and Matt Marinaro — Gorman’s coaches at Boylan — were tied with eight-time champ Jamie Hogan at 1-under 70. Hogan is rusty, but showed what a threat he could be with his roller-coaster 70 that included five birdies on the front nine, which is 500 yards longer than the back, and four bogeys, including one when he almost drove the green on No. 4.

“I didn’t make a par until 10, and then I made all pars on the back, which you are not supposed to do. You are supposed to go low,” Hogan said. “I had some easy chips where I didn’t get up-and-down when I got a little greedy. It was just an odd round.”

Hogan expressed surprise that there wasn’t a “whole fleet of golfers in the 60s” considering the firm and fast conditions.

“I am getting tee shots I haven’t hit since 1985,” said Lowell Parrish, 82, who beat his age by six strokes.